Hockey East Journal: Adding UConn has its pros and cons

The first thing people asked after Hockey East announced the
addition of Notre Dame as its 11th member last fall was, “OK,
but who’s No. 12?”

It seems we just may finally have an answer.

Junior goalie Garrett Bartus had an
impressive .923 save percentage for the Huskies this season. (Photo
courtesy of UConn Athletics)

After months of speculation, prognostication and, well, maybe a
little exasperation, reports began to surface at the end of March
that UConn was not only considering jumping from Atlantic Hockey to
Hockey East, but even applying for league membership.

The Hartford Courant reported on March 29 that
league officials visited UConn to evaluate the school and the
hockey program. An invitation to the league may be in the offing
sometime very soon – and in fact, a Connecticut television station reported April 4
that the deal was already done, although tweets by Eagle-Tribune
writer Mike McMahon refuted that report. Regardless, it seems
like the league and the program are zeroing in on making it
happen.

There are some possible stumbling blocks. The largest one, as
always, is money, but its manifested in different ways. First,
UConn doesn’t offer scholarships, and would have to add 18 to
meet Hockey East requirements – an estimated cost of $2
million, according to the Courant. Even if that’s
accomplished, there’s the inevitable Title IX highwire act
that would come with it, as the athletic program would need to
figure out how to provide equivalent dollars for women’s
sports.

Then there’s the matter of the arena. The Huskies
currently play in the Freitas Ice Forum, which has a capacity of
2,000. That’s only half the number required by Hockey East,
which also mandates between 20 and 30 percent seatbacks. The
rumored solution is to have the Huskies play at the nearby XL
Center, and while the former home of the Hartford Whalers (and
current home of the AHL’s Whale) will meet Hockey
East’s guidelines, it’s not on campus, and at nearly
16,000 seats, it would be a cavernous place for college games
– the next largest Hockey East arena would be UMass’
Mullins Center, whose 8,389 seats are rarely full even for big-time
matchups.

On the flip side, there are reasons UConn is attractive –
particularly compared to some of the other schools that have been
batted around as possible 12th members, such as RPI and Quinnipiac.
The Huskies’ women’s program is a part of the league
already, and the alignment would certainly be attractive to both
the league and program. UConn is also a Division I school across
the board, which commissioner Joe Bertagna alluded to being a
desired quality when he spoke with the Hockey Journal back in
October about Notre Dame’s addition.

“There probably are within the league some athletic
directors who don’t feel philosophically that a small
Division III school should be competing in Division I,”
Bertagna said. “That’s kind of the way the NCAA has
gone in the last 20 years.”

UConn is also effectively a pro team in Connecticut, with
arguably the largest fanbase in the state – albeit one driven
mostly by basketball. Bringing those crowds into the fold
potentially bolsters Hockey East’s ability to recruit and
attract TV dollars, and it also nicely rounds out the
league’s footprint on New England, which currently has the
other five states covered.

Still, the challenges are hard to ignore. UConn has finished
with a sub-.500 record every year for the last 12, including all
nine since Atlantic Hockey was formed in 2003-04. To go from
also-ran status in Atlantic Hockey to playing in one of the elite
leagues in the country will be hard enough, and since it’s
almost guaranteed that the Hockey East schedule would go from 27
league games to something like 22, the Huskies would need to find
some serious non-league competition as well.

It would also be a non-power entering a league full of them,
where longtime members like UMass, Providence and UMass-Lowell
already struggle to woo recruits away from the traditional titans
like BC, BU and Maine – not to mention the newly added
Irish.

That’s a discussion for another day, ultimately. What
comes first is UConn and Hockey East agreeing that the Huskies
should be league member No. 12. If that happens, it finally brings
the college hockey carousel to an end after two years of jockeying
and uncertainty.

1.Boston College (31-10-1, 19-7-1
HEA) – Not to take the focus away from the
Eagles’ possible title run, but the New York Post’s
Larry Brooksreported Tuesday that because they put him
on their reserve list ahead of the Feb. 27 trade deadline, the
Rangers will be able to use BC’s Chris
Kreider (Boxford, Mass.) in the playoffs if he signs a
contract after the season ends, which is what many, including
Rangers GM Glen Sather, expect.

2.Maine (23-14-3, 15-10-2
HEA) – The good news: Maine’s Spencer
Abbott, who led Hockey East in scoring, is in the
“Hobey Hat Trick” group of three finalists for the
Hobey Baker Award, making it possible for Abbott to be the first
Hockey East player to win the Hobey since BU’s Matt
Gilroy in 2009. The not-so-good news: Junior swingman
Matt Mangene signed with Philadelphia, forfeiting
his final year in Orono.

3.UMass-Lowell (24-13-1, 17-9-1
HEA) – Coach Norm Bazin was a
runner-up for the Spencer Penrose Award, given by the American
Hockey Coaches Association to the best coach in the country. After
taking the River Hawks from worst to first in his first season
behind the bench, one could make the case that Bazin was more
deserving than Ferris State coach Bob Daniels,
though Daniels’ Bulldogs did reach the Frozen Four.

4.Boston University (23-15-1,
17-9-1 HEA) – An up-and-down year finally came
to an end for BU, which gave up two empty-netters in a 7-3
loss to Minnesota in the West Regional semifinals. A few days
later, forward Alex Chiasson opted out of his final year
of eligibility, signing with the Dallas Stars
organization.

6.New Hampshire (15-19-3, 11-14-2
HEA) – Stevie Moses (Leominster,
Mass.) signed with the AHL’s Connecticut Whale following
his stellar senior season, and Damon
Kipp went south to the South Carolina Stingrays of
the ECHL.

7.Providence (14-20-4, 10-14-3
HEA) - Think head coach Nate Leaman might
be regretting leaving Union? Providence should be proud of the
strides they made this season in Leaman's first year at the
helm, but the coach's former squad is headed to the Frozen
Four.

8.UMass (13-18-5, 9-14-4
HEA) – Senior defenseman Michael
Marcou signed an amateur tryout agreement with the
AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons on March 29.

9.Northeastern (13-16-5, 9-14-4
HEA) – A tough year has already given way to
a difficult offseason for the Huskies. South Portland, Maine,
native Jon Gillies asked to be released from
his letter of intent for next season after the Indiana Ice
goaltender found out NU’s Chris
Rawlings will return for his senior season. The worse news
is the departure of defenseman Anthony
Bitetto, a hard-charging blueliner who opted out of his
final two years on Huntington Avenue in favor of a pro
contract with Nashville.

10.Vermont (6-27-1, 3-23-1
HEA) – Just as Gutterson Fieldhouse prepares to host
the IIHF Women’s World Championship, which starts Saturday,
the school is eyeing a piece of its capital campaign to replace the
49-year-old arena, according to a report by the Vermont
Cynic.